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US hikers freed: Timeline of key events
The two US hikers remaining in Iranian custody, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were released today after more than two years of detention. Here are the key points in their saga.
A picture obtained from Iran's state-run English-language Press TV shows detained US hikers (l.-r.) Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal waiting to meet their mothers for the first time since their arrest, in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 20, 2010. (PRESS TV/AFP/Newscom/File)
July 31, 2009 – Hikers arrested
Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal, and Shane Bauer are arrested along the Iran-Iraq border. Iran accuses them of entering Iranian territory and of being spies. The three say that they were merely on a recreational hike in Iraqi Kurdistan and that if they really did enter Iranian territory, they did so unintentionally. The border there can be difficult to discern.
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